Achumawi language
| Achumawi | |
|---|---|
| Native to | California |
| Ethnicity | Achomawi people and Madhesi tribe |
| Extinct | (date missing) 10 semi- and passive speakers (2007) |
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Hokan ?
|
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | achu1247 |
The Achumawi language (also Achomawi or Pit River language) is the native language spoken by the Pit River people of present-day California. The term Achumawi is an anglicization of the name of the Fall River band, ajúmmááwí, from ajúmmá "river". Originally there were nine bands, with dialect differences among them but primarily between upriver and downriver dialects, demarcated by the Big Valley mountains east of the Fall River valley.
Together, Achumawi and Atsugewi are said to comprise the Palaihnihan language family. The basis of this assertion is weakened by poor quality of data. David Olmsted's dictionary depends almost entirely upon de Angulo, and carelessly includes Pomo vocabulary from a manuscript in which he (de Angulo) set out to demonstrate that Achumawi and Pomo are not related.William Bright has also pointed out problems with Olmsted's methods of reconstruction. The phenomenon of non-reciprocal intelligibility is a matter of bilingualism (due to intermarriage) being more prevalent in the smaller speech community (Atsuge) than in the larger.
Achumawi has 37 consonants. Most of these form pairs of plain and laryngealized or glottalized series. Plosives and affricates also have a third, aspirated member of the series (except for the single glottal stop) which is contrastive only syllable-initially and probably derives historically from clusters, as in the neighboring and possibly related Yana language.
The laryngealized stops are similar in articulation to the ejective glottalized stops of neighboring languages, but more lenis, that is, not "popped" unless an unusual effort is made at articulating the distinction. The plain-aspirated distinction is neutralized and realized with aspiration or voiceless release in syllable-final position and before another consonant. Plain stops are voiced before a short vowel or after an aspirated stop, voiceless elsewhere.
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